Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vultures (not Buzzards) have averaged arriving in the Sterling area on April 3 for the past ten years. They are a relatively recent arrival in this area, not present at all when I was a kid here.

The babies are not exactly cuddly. I found these in a very old, unused water pump house near a washed-away farm house near the river. Weed choked. I had to crawl through Coyote Willow and Canada Thistle to get to the shack. The babies’ defense is a very loud hiss. Very loud. Other-Worldly loud. I took the photos and let them be.

This is one of the birds above, exactly thirty days later. Notice the still-black head and the white legs.